Comprehensive Lecture Review: Science, Economics, and Environment

This flashcard set covers key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture notes, including environmental science, economic indicators, physics/chemistry basics, and geography/biology found in the reading passages.

Free Software

Software released by a developer that gives users access to main elements without requiring a license, though there may be limits on usage.

Air Pollution

Chemicals and gases that enter and cause harm to people, animals, and their environment, categorized into outdoor and indoor types.

Indoor Air Quality

The air quality around and inside buildings and structures which directly affects the comfort and health of the people inside.

Black Carbon

Pollution resulting from diesel smoke consisting of particles measuring about $2.5\text{ microns}$ or $0.0001\text{ centimeter}$.

Noxious Gases

Gases such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides that undergo chemical reactions in the atmosphere to produce smog and acid rain.

Inflation

A general and sustained increase in prices over time, tracked by measuring the price changes of a typical basket of common products.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

A measure of inflation calculated by dividing the price of a market basket in a given year by its price in a base year.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Deflator

An index used to adjust GDP for inflation by measuring price changes for all final goods and services produced in a country.

Advertising

The practice of giving information to the public about an event, product, or service to make them want to buy it or form an opinion about it.

Commercials

Specific advertisements that are broadcast or played during television and radio programs.

Stress

A feeling of being overloaded where demands pose a challenge or threat to an individual's well-being.

Fight-or-flight Response

The physiological response to a challenge or threat where the body activates resources to either escape or stay and fight.

Cortisol, Adrenaline, and Noradrenaline

Chemicals produced by the body during stress that trigger a higher heart rate, muscle preparedness, sweating, and alertness.

Atom

The smallest part of an element that can exist; minuscule particles that make up all substances.

Element

A substance made up of only one type of atom, with each type represented by a chemical symbol like $O$ for oxygen.

Compound

A substance that contains two or more elements combined with a chemical bond in fixed proportions, such as $H_2O$.

Proportions in Compounds

The fixed ratios of elements in a compound, such as carbon dioxide always having $12\text{ g}$ of carbon for every $32\text{ g}$ of oxygen.

Fast Food

Food that can be prepared and served quickly, typically inexpensive and sold in restaurants, grocery stores, or gas stations.

Statistics

A branch of mathematics involving the gathering, summarizing, and analysis of numerical data to describe groups or predict outcomes.

Sample

A part of a group studied by statisticians to accurately represent a larger population when the population is too large to study entirely.

Mean

A type of average calculated by taking the sum of a set of numbers and dividing it by the number of elements in that set.

Mode

A type of average defined as the number that occurs most frequently in a given sample.

Median

A type of average representing the number that is located exactly in the middle of a sample's data set.

Vitamin D

Also known as the sunshine vitamin; an essential nutrient synthesized in the skin when exposed to UVB radiation from sunlight.

Osteoporosis

A health condition involving weak bones and increased risk of fracture, which can be caused by Vitamin D deficiency.

Yellowstone National Park

Established in $1872$, it is the oldest national park in the world, located primarily in northwestern Wyoming.

Steamboat Geyser

The highest-erupting geyser in the world, capable of throwing water to heights of $300\text{ feet}$ ($90\text{ meters}$) and higher.

Travertine

Calcium carbonate ($CaCO_3$) white rock deposited by hot springs, forming the terraced hillsides of Mammoth Hot Springs.

Lodgepole Pine

The tree species that constitutes the vast majority of the forested growth in Yellowstone National Park.